Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"I shall think of paying completely for our date in the future if you win this duel. Go wild!"

Altashia heard that and had blank expressions on her face for a while before bursting into a burst of cheerful laughter. She looked back at him and gave him a cunning smile before turning to look ahead once again.

"Hehe! I'll hold you up to that."

Altashia said and jumped from the railing– a gust of wind following her. Eren made a gulping sound and sent his mana sense into his storage space to count the meagre Extols he had.

'Err… maybe I shouldn't have said that. Especially to someone like Al who is used to having a "good life".'

The now-broke Eren thought to himself and sighed. He then recalled the condition that he needed to beat Al before asking for a date. And that gave him some form of relief. This way, he had some time to become rich again.

The crowd grew hysterical when they saw someone so gorgeous jumping from the high railings only to land directly a few meters away from Rodrick. The gale she had brought with her was so strong that it created a cloud of dust.

The wind almost blew the announcer's wig that stood nearby. Luckily, he was fast enough to pin it over his head with both his hands before it could fly off. He laughed nervously to himself and concluded that nobody saw that.

'She did the protagonist jump. I like that.'

Layla spoke out of nowhere. Eren just pretended that he didn't hear her.

*****************

"Hello, Miss Altashia Argas."

Rodrick greeted his opponent first with a light bow. The latter also returned the gesture by nodding at him. The royal scion carried on with his words.

"I'd like to thank you for indulging me in my request. As promised, I will hand over to you both the items I have promised you if you win this duel. I shall also share any of them you wish, even if you lose."

Al narrowed her eyes when Rodric talked about her loss and still being given the awards. She didn't like that Rodric was making it look like a charity event for her. That he had already assumed that he would win the duel. Rodrick understood what Altashia was thinking and offered a clarification.

"Don't mistake my acknowledgement for arrogance, Miss Altashia. I have learned my lesson well. Fighting with you in the ranking battle has been an eye-opener for me. Please consider this an exchange of gratitude."

Rodrick spoke with seriousness. Altashia sighed and nodded at him. The announcer, serving as the referee for the final match, saw that verbal exchange was wrapped up between the two celebrity participants. So he announced loudly while channelling mana through his vocal cords.

"Alright. The greetings are over. Now's the time for action. Commence battle in…

3…

2…

1…"

'This should be fun. Now I'll know what I'll be up against.'

Eren thought to himself as the spectral screen that was showing the countdown in sync with the announcer's announcement displayed the number all the spectators were waiting for.

'0!'

Swoosh!

The moment the countdown hit zero, Rodrick Renar gripped his broadsword and swung it towards the seemingly motionless and expressionless Altashia. One could swear that the Altashia that laughed at Eren's silly puns and the Altashia who stood before Rodrick were two different rankers.

A sword slash made of water-element mana was birthed into existence out of thin air before travelling towards Al. In response, Al raised her hand and swatted at the incoming sword slash.

Fwoosh!

The sword slash was met with a near-impregnable wind element layer that seemed invisible at first. But when it travelled some more through the same layer, the wind-element mana was made visible to the naked eyes with its light grey coloured hue. It was apparent that Al had increased the density of the mana she had employed in that attack.

Altashia closed her raised hand and the water slash was crushed by a large wind-element hand that had just manifested. As a result, water poured out of the wind-elemental hand, indicating that the sword slash was dispersed.

'Sigh. There ends my reliance on Rigor Mortis and Purple Reaver when battling with this girl.'

Eren thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold in front of him through Sedated Perception. The time-element spell was used to see Altashia's battle style without missing any detail. He was sure that if it was the previous him, he would not have messed with a girl like Altashia even if he was offered money to do it. It spoke volumes about Altashia's level of threat to the current him. Because the past-him would have done almost anything for the money, except sell his ass for it.

He also understood Altashia did not use any special spell to defend herself. Her mastery over the elements had been incorporated into her regular spells. She could make her elemental mana as tangible or intangible as she wanted, enabling her to exert more than 100 percent of the spell's power.

She could step into the Adept rank in terms of the effectiveness of spells if she went all out. This was beyond Eren's current field of expertise.

'Maybe I am indeed trying to nail someone way out of my league.'

Eren whistled as he saw the wind-element mana losing its shape only to be reformed into a long chain. He didn't understand the purpose of those chains, but he could clearly see that Altashia had been nothing but effortless in whatever she was doing in the battle ring.

'Heh! That's what makes it fun.'

Eren thought amusingly with a wicked grin on his face as he kept on watching the duel.

"Impressive. Miss Altashia, allow me to praise you for your progress in the way of the elements. This is one of the most impressive displays of one's mastery over the elements I've seen from our generation."

Rodrick did not shy away from praising his opponent. He was not deterred from having his attack blocked. He was expecting the same outcome anyway. But he also realized that he had underestimated Altashia once again. Her mastery over her elements had increased once again since the last time they fought, even if by a small margin.

Rodrick wanted the world to see how capable Altashia was as a ranker. He wanted to justify his loss in the Ranking Wars. It was one of the reasons he had arranged this grand spectacle in the first place.

But he also wanted the world to see his latest development. As if he was trying to prove his worth by winning over someone as talented as Altashia.

Altashia simply nodded at Rodrick's praises. The latter smiled and gripped his sword with both hands before adding more.

"But you are not the only one who has improved since our battle."